But the tomato tiff has the potential to put President Clinton
in an awkward political position. Having backed the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and pumped $20 billion into Mexico in
a controversial peso bailout plan, Mr. Clinton may have to decide
this month to dampen Mexico's economy-strengthening tomato exports,
depending on the ITC's findings.

Clinton's reprieve may be that the complaints to date are
relatively localized.

California growers are not kicking up a fuss, notes Jim Zion,
program manager of agricultural exports at the California
Department of Food and Agriculture. Mexican vegetable exports "tend
to be in the off-season for us," he says.

And some US produce farmers aren't waiting for a government
solution. They're moving south to take away the home field
advantage from Mexican growers.

Earlier this year, one former president of the tomato exchange
switched 500 acres of production to Mexico. A current board member,
Monsanto-backed Gargiulo LP, also grows tomatoes south of the
border.

"We're all a little guilty of that," says Bobby Lackey,
president of J.S. McManus Produce Company Inc. in Weslaco, Texas.
His 60-year-old firm brings cantaloupes, onions, broccoli, and
carrots from Mexico and grows more on 4,000 acres in south Texas.

American companies have long raised onions near the Mexican city
of Tampico, Mr. …